Setting
There is one major city established so far: Oneiros. Laws Ink is forbidden. Because the written word is viewed as sacred and unchangeable, far beyond the understanding or control of the average person Contracts, therefore, are signed only by magic or blood. (catch me establishing contract law right out the gate...and oooooh, lawyer clerics has potential...) graffiti becomes a powerful act of political resistance against the sanctity of the written word. underground rebel preachers teach people to read and write to democratise the written word. an original idea/jumping-off point: some tattoos are heritable.another one: a large number of people in the history of a city/place chose to be petrified. people that chose to be petrified had a number of reasons for doing so, one of which being that the rich pay a fine amount of money to have as realistic statues around as possible. if you were poor yet attractive, you could become petrified and give the money to your family. another reason is simple vanity or a desire to be remembered exactly as they were. historical figures, such as generals or inventors or even artists them selves in particular, didn't want anyone misrepresenting them. sentience and magic communication lead to active animal rights issues 'meat is murder' issues for some bestial humanoids Ink is forbidden. Because the written word is viewed as sacred and unchangeable, far beyond the understanding or control of the average person Contracts, therefore, are signed only by magic or blood. (catch me establishing contract law right out the gate...and oooooh, lawyer clerics has potential...) Numbers are considered to be the closest one can get to the writing of the god(s). Being bad at math is close to herecy this is the general feeling amongst the more 'wizardy' sides of the clergy Dreams can be viewed by others as they happen. Items can be used to earn magical abilities. Magical ability can also be affected by location (ie edge of a volcano, local coffee shop, house you grew up in, etc.). A non-zero number of folklore/mythological beings exist. Which ones, how many, and if they fit the stories? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (hundreds) (one of them is Mothman, probably) (the rest? magnificent body horror creatures and cute things like griffons and chimeras. not the FullMetal Alchemist kind.) is there just one Mothman? or is it like mailman or tall man, where there are manyDragons exist.we're gonna have to decide, like, sentience level, for all magic creatures. does an owlbear work at a bakery? do dragons skip out on their taxes? have heffalumps taken over the local mafia? i kind of enjoy more bestial dragons but, like, HTTYD type of bestial kitty!dragons can be completely wild, can possibly be domesticated, that sort of thing although, i do enjoy conversational dragons a la patricia wrede some can be conversational, some are bestial, then? there could even be draconic humanoids, similar to how there are humans and monkeys dragons exist and they emit contagious emotions that means everyone around them feels what they feel people who are able to have particularly erotic, vivid or lucid dreams hire themselves out as a picture show. there is a roaring trade in psychoactive dream-altering drugs. people who don't want to disclose embarrassing secrets enchant themselves so that they don't dream at all, and they don't sleep as well as a result.(edited) graffiti becomes a powerful act of political resistance against the sanctity of the written word. underground rebel preachers teach people to read and write to democratise the written word. an original idea/jumping-off point: some tattoos are heritable.another one: a large number of people in the history of a city/place chose to be petrified. people that chose to be petrified had a number of reasons for doing so, one of which being that the rich pay a fine amount of money to have as realistic statues around as possible. if you were poor yet attractive, you could become petrified and give the money to your family. another reason is simple vanity or a desire to be remembered exactly as they were. historical figures, such as generals or inventors or even artists them selves in particular, didn't want anyone misrepresenting them. Anyone can rewrite public history if they pay historians enough money. As a consequence, people develop a rich oral historical tradition which becomes more trusted than official sources. Storytellers and skalds and bards are commonplace.(edited) I think maybe some people might be petrified kind of like cryogenic storage/to await a certain future event or time and get "woken up" that would be a fun character hook. playing someone from the far past who has just been woken up and is like....what the hell are kids wearing these days! oh and I missed "Gravity can be controlled": the local version of the stocks is to suspend criminals up in the air by affecting gravity so people can throw rotten vegetables at them that way. people who fear assassination by being thrown into the air by the weakening of gravity wear heavy boots or carry parachutes. magical creatures who exist ideas: ghosts, but they can't perceive the living seabirds are the souls of dead sailorsBoth guns and swords/axes/etc. are used. GODS AND MONSTERS Creating the World At the start of the game, the world is a blank slate. Sketch a new one with the six basic regions. If anyone wants to add some additional details along the lines of “here there be monsters,” go right ahead, but you don’t have to. As you create your gods, you’ll add a few more details—places sacred to your gods and the people who worship them—but you’ll come up with most of the fine details as you play the game and tell the tales of your gods’ actions. At a minimum, your world starts with sub-regions equal to the number of player characters, along with one community. Regions Regions begin as large, homogenous areas with either one or two aspects, but no more: a concept and an optional refinement. These aspects can be invoked by anyone within the region. During play, the gods can change these aspects, creating sub-regions by adjusting the refinement, or even redefining the region entirely by changing its concept. In the beginning, the regions are quite bland; this is intentional, as it provides a blank slate for the players to scribble all over. Also, the list of regions we give here is not exhaustive; make up your own during play to support the stories you tell. If the world has responded to a character’s power once, it can be persuaded to do so again. Each region has a regional stunt, which can be used only by gods who have marked the region—see “Changing and Creating Regions” for more. If a region is changed beyond all recognition, such as if the Forest Primeval is clear-cut, then the group should either amend the flavor of the regional stunt to reflect the new state of things or create a new stunt to replace the old one. Sub-Regions Sub-regions are smaller areas within regions where conditions are broadly the same but different in one or two particulars. A sub-region has the same concept and regional stunt as its parent region, but a different refinement. If the parent region doesn’t have a refinement, then when it gains a refinement, it can split off into a sub-region. A region can have any number of sub-regions. Gods Move In Mysterious Ways Generally, your god—and all others—can go anywhere in the world with minimal effort unless someone or something is actively trying to block you. This someone might even be yourself, as long as your god has an appropriate aspect to compel and there are interesting consequences to failing to arrive on time. Communities As part of shaping the world around them characters will often interact with communities: cohesive groups of people who can be led, manipulated or fought as a unit. When a community acts as a whole or you need some approximate stats for one of its members, use its community skills. Not all communities have all skills; if one is missing, assume it is Mediocre (+0). The community skills are: Culture covers the appeal of the community’s arts and “ambience” to outsiders. Integrity is used to resist the forces of change both internal and external. Subtlety reflects the level of skulduggery that the community engages in, including spying, stealth, and theft. Technology is the overall level of technical advancement. Technology rarely begins at a rank higher than Average (+1), but it can change over the course of the game. Warfare covers how many soldiers the community can round up and what level of training they have received. Wealth is self-explanatory: how rich does the community tend to be in material possessions? However, it says nothing about how those riches are distributed. Communities also have a stress track and a set of consequences, used to resist raids, environmental destruction, depopulation by disease or misfortune, social pressure to change their ways, or other forces of change. Some communities also have stunts or other special powers, but these are rare. It’s important to note that the PCs are powerful enough to operate on the community scale if they want to; you can sway a town’s opinions with a single speech by rolling to overcome the community’s Integrity, or you can fight an army by rolling to attack against their Warfare. Sometimes you’ll scale down your interactions and deal with individual members of a community, who will have their own skills and aspects, but if you want to work in broad strokes, you can. Communities have the same aspects of the region or sub-region they lie within, and each can gain a third aspect that reflects some unique trait. Most communities won’t begin with this trait aspect—unless someone has a really good idea for it—but time and the actions of the PCs are bound to change that. Conspiracies What is a Conspiracy? Conspiracies are larger than life. The architects of a Conspiracy plan to gain power on a setting-wide scale by any means necessary. The schemes are grand, pitting nations against one another in fabricated wars, using weak rulers as puppets to further enrich the nobility, and assassinating those who resist. Modeling Conspiracies Conspiracies are modeled with aspects—alliance, goal, and weakness—and approaches—Influence, Might, Power, Reach, Resources, and Secrecy. Conspiracy Aspects Conspiracy aspects are campaign aspects that begin play hidden from the players. The first time the GM invokes each Conspiracy aspect or if the players are able to uncover it, it is revealed and the players can invoke it as usual. Alliance: A conspiracy’s alliance aspect names its primary architects. It’s blatant and obvious but that’s what makes it powerful in play. When the aspect is revealed to the players, it focuses them and gives them a direction for their efforts. Or the alliance aspect can be revealed early in play, leaving the players leads but no proof of perfidy until they can discover the goal and the weakness that can be exploited. Goal: The purpose of the conspiracy, its endgame, is represented by its goal aspect. Weakness: A conspiracy’s weakness aspect is like a PC’s trouble—it complicates matters and provides an opportunity for opponents to capitalize on the shortcomings of those pulling the strings. After all, a conspiracy is a human organization and subject to the same failings of any human endeavor. Conspiracy Approaches Conspiracy approaches represent the political strength, social influence, military might, and economic means the conspirators commit to their scheme. While Players are investigating a conspiracy, they will often be opposed by the conspiracy itself. Influence: the conspiracy’s ability to apply social pressure to get its way. A conspiracy with high Influence has famous, visible, and charismatic conspirators such as dukes and ranking clergy. Power: a conspiracy’s ability to abuse governmental power for the conspiracy’s gain. High Power conspiracies count generals and high level bureaucrats among their conspirators. Might: the measure of the conspiracy’s fighting forces, whether through traditional arms or paid assassins. Might covers both the number of the fighting forces and their quality. A conspiracy with high Might often has its start in the military but may also be led by nobles or clergy with private armies. Reach: how large and expansive a conspiracy is. A larger Reach, means the conspiracy is more pervasive with more places a conspirator can be found and more layers to it. A conspiracy with Reach as its peak approach has a wide variety of conspirators at all levels of society from common laborers and merchants to powerful nobles and court officials. Resources: This represents the financial, material, and technological capabilities the conspiracy controls. A conspiracy with high Resources has secret bases with supercomputers and top of the line courier crafts—as well as the ability to bribe their way to victory. A high Resources approach means the conspiracy has wealthy conspirators, such as the heads of large corporations or major landowners. Secrecy: a measure of how well the conspiracy guards itself from discovery. Every conspiracy is shrouded in Secrecy to a degree but some are simply better at keeping secrets than others. While Secrecy doesn’t directly indicate who is a conspirator—after all, dock workers can keep secrets just as well as the upper class—it does indicate that the conspirators are careful and methodical. Truly dangerous opponents to have in the game of shadows. Using Conspiracy Approaches A conspiracy’s approaches are arranged in a pyramid with a base of three Good (+3) approaches, two Great (+4) approaches, and one Superb (+5) approach. Conspiracy approaches are used in two ways. First, the approach is used as the difficulty of passive opposition whenever a PC tries to overcome the conspiracy’s work. Bypassing the security system in the Cardinal’s mansion would require a PC to overcome the conspiracy’s Resources and finding incriminating documents in the Cardinal’s office would be up against Secrecy, for example. Approaches can also be used in place of NPC approaches or skilled actions by mooks. To do so, the GM spends a fate point to use a conspiracy approach in place of the NPC’s usual bonus for the roll. For example, if the Cardinal were to face off against the players in a desperate sword fight, the GM could spend a fate point to replace the Cardinal’s Mediocre (+0) Quick with the conspiracy’s Good (+3) Might. Note that spending a fate point in this way replaces the entirety of a mob’s skill bonus including any teamwork bonus from additional mooks. Aspects may still be invoked as normal and add to the total after the fact.